Simple Needs

Loved it! 😍

A modern age ‘David and Goliath’-esque novel that offers plenty of chills and thrills to keep you glued to your seat.

Synopsis

The salary enticed him, but murder was never a part of the job!

Being a dwarf never made things easy, but last week was probably the worst of Modell Taubert’s life. He’d lost his job and his apartment in one fell swoop. With no friends or family to fall back on, now he was living out of his car, subsiding on cheap diner coffee and loaves of day-old French bread. If he ever wanted to get out of this rut, he needed a job, stat.

So when he saw the classified ad for a butler at an isolated manor in rural Maine, he figured his prayers had been answered. How hard could butlering be? Room and board were included along with an enormous salary. He'd be all set!

Yet he would soon come to realize there is always a price to pay when your eccentric employer has just a few simple needs…

Modell is a dwarf who leads a simple life. He is a car salesman by trade and he dreams of owning a houseboat, living a secluded life away from the mean people he had to deal with on a daily basis. Call it luck or fate, he stumbles upon a classified ad for a butler. What caught his eyes was the $10,000 salary. With no other worthy opportunities in sight, he decides to pay a visit to the Von Stead Manor in hopes of landing the job. But little did he know that he was going to a place of no return.

‘Simple needs’ is a well-crafted thriller that’d compel you to finish it in one sitting. There is so much suspense in the story and it’s hard to flip through it without breaking a sweat.

The setting is very eerie and the manor has a gothic vibe to it. The physical disadvantage of Modell makes it harder for him to achieve what he intends to. The story, for the majority, focuses only on Modell and Von Stead. So you get to understand them a lot better. The first part of the story was written from Modell’s point of view and it threw light on what a person of his stature goes through every day. The way people treat him, the difficulties that he had to endure during the formative years of his life, the injustice he faced, etc., were expressed so well.

The second part was written from the perspective of Von Stead and here we get to see glimpses of the person he really is on the inside. His actions and demeanor are very sinister and he is portrayed as the kind of character who is to be taken seriously.

The climax portion was tense and unpredictable. Till the very last page, I had no clue of what was in stock for me to experience. The plot twist left me speechless and took a while for me to get in terms with it. Overall, it was a worthy read.

Synopsis

The salary enticed him, but murder was never a part of the job!

Being a dwarf never made things easy, but last week was probably the worst of Modell Taubert’s life. He’d lost his job and his apartment in one fell swoop. With no friends or family to fall back on, now he was living out of his car, subsiding on cheap diner coffee and loaves of day-old French bread. If he ever wanted to get out of this rut, he needed a job, stat.

So when he saw the classified ad for a butler at an isolated manor in rural Maine, he figured his prayers had been answered. How hard could butlering be? Room and board were included along with an enormous salary. He'd be all set!

Yet he would soon come to realize there is always a price to pay when your eccentric employer has just a few simple needs…

“Will do.” Modell raised his head and gave Caitlyn his seductive green eyes, along with a grin. It was obvious she was fresh from the farmlands because her voice still had that rich Southern twang. Maybe he had a chance.

Caitlyn bestowed a tremendous smile upon him before she trotted away to retrieve another customer’s order from the kitchen. Her smile was one a sitter might give the children under her care, however, not the kind that would ever lead anywhere. Modell frowned and once again submerged himself in miniscule newsprint. To his dismay, attracting beautiful women had never been one of Modell’s strong suits. Love was definitely tougher for a wee man.

By trade, Modell was a car salesman. Chevrolet to be exact. For nine years he had worked at Johnson’s Chevrolet in Staten Island and his life had been fine. He lived three doors down from the dealership in a slummy apartment complex, but the rent was cheap and he saved every penny he made so one day he could buy a houseboat and leave all the stares behind. Yet some recent events had aborted that plan. Two weeks ago, a real estate developer had purchased the entire block he lived on in order to make way for three high-rises of pricy townhomes. The deal also included the struggling Chevy dealership, whose land had been designated for a parking lot. Old man Johnson sold out pretty quick, and, rumor was, for pretty cheap. Fucking gentrification. So that was it. Goodbye. No severance, no month to find another place to work. Pack your stuff and get lost was all the farewell Modell received. Since he had no relatives he could turn to, Modell had been living out of his car for the last week. His precious houseboat funds were now squandered on tasteless diner coffee and shitty vending machine sandwiches. This is why he currently scoured the classified ads on the table in front of him.

“You see that little fella out there? He’s so cute. Reminds me of my little brother.”

“Or one of those big stuffed animals you win at the Fair. I just want to hug him.”

“Me, too!”

Even though Modell sat in a booth clear across the restaurant, he heard the waitresses’ conversation and their high-pitched cackles. When he was a teenager, their blather would have crushed him. Now, at twenty-eight, he understood exactly how the world worked. This was simply the hand life had dealt him. Modell thought he played it pretty damn well most of the time. He leaned forward to grab the wallet in his jeans, suddenly eager to leave the establishment, but an unread classified ad caught his eye:

Wanted:

Butler Who Is Unafraid Of Hard Work.

Must Be Willing To Obey,

Able To Follow Directions,

And Ready to Work Immediately.

Room And Board Included.

If Interested, Apply In Person:

Von Stead Manor

1 Holloway Court

Newberry, Maine

Modell’s body jolted on account of the good news. He was tired of New York anyway. This was exactly the change he needed. But what did a butler do? Answer the door, serve dinner? He could do that. Besides, room and board were included! That meant he could save every penny he earned for his houseboat. There was no phone number listed in the ad, however Modell knew where Newberry was located – in the forests near Maine’s eastern coastline – because he had been a Christmas season delivery driver for UPS one year and spent twelve long hours lost on the highways trying to locate the place. This time he would use the navigation app on his phone. If a job came from his efforts, any money spent on gas would be well worth it.

Modell dug his wallet from his back pocket and threw down a couple dollars to cover his morning coffee and a meager tip for Caitlyn. Then he pulled on his pleather winter coat and pushed through the coffee shop’s front door. Of course, it being New York, huge gray clouds began dumping rain the moment he stepped outside. Soon, torrents rushed down the sidewalks and the streets became white-washed rapids.

“Damn it,” Modell said when his Converse All-Star Chuck Taylor’s molded to his feet after a few steps. Each pebble of rain was harder and thicker than the last. A young boy yelled when Modell passed him. “Mommy! There’s one of them. Like those midgets we saw at the circus. I can’t believe it. Hey!”

Modell looked up at a mangy boy who must have been six or seven. The kid pointed and tugged his mother’s hand.

“Tommy!” The woman in a beige power suit yanked her son back towards her. “That’s not what we call them, remember? They’re little people. Lit-tle peo-ple.”

Modell’s nostrils flared as he brushed by the pedestrians. Midget? What the fuck? Little person? Even worse. For Christ’s sake, he was Modell Taubert. A human being just like everyone else.

To chill himself out, after he took refuge in his powder-blue Ford Escort, Modell focused on his new prospect of employment while he wolfed down half a loaf of French bread he’d purchased yesterday. It was hard as a rock. He needed to get to Von Stead Manor stat. Maybe he could even eat dinner there.

About the author

Ten years ago, I left law school because I realized I'd rather write novels than work in an office. I suppose life got in the way because it was not until recently that I began editing my first books and my stories came to life. I hope you have as much fun reading them as I did writing them.
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